21.8.11

Google pumped up its search results this week with the addition of Plus posts. At the same time, Sites became more exclusive with page-level sharing permissions, and plans for a new Google campus are exciting people of the geek variety in what has traditionally been a Microsoft-led environment.

Page-level Sharing Permissions Now in Google Sites

Google granted page-level permissions to Sites, allowing you to control who can view and edit a site on a page by page basis. "For instance you can make some pages available for your domain while making some pages private for certain users," states the official Google announcement.

Once enabled, there are three options to choose from:

Allow a page to inherit all of your site-level permissions

Elect to include future site-level changes to a page

Prevent a page from inheriting any future changes made at the site-level

The feature, which is turned off by default for new and existing sites, is only available to site owners. If you'd like to turn it on, go to ‘More Actions’ > ‘Sharing and Permissions’ and click ‘Enable page-level permissions’. Click ‘Turn on page-level permissions’.

Adding Google+ to Search Results Won't Change the Game

Related posts from your Google Plus friends now appear in search results when you are signed into your Google account.

The Internet giant has been working diligently on making alterations to its Search strategy, including February's addition of content from users' friends on Blogger, YouTube, Quora, Flickr, Google Reader, Twitter and other social sites; however, despite the bonus of Plus posts, it still might be too early to say whether or not getting more social will have a game-changing effect. As explained by Search Engine Land:

Google Social Search continues to operate as before. Things shared socially at places like Twitter and Facebook by those you’re connected with may appear with annotations and rank better in results. […] The main difference is, as Google’s post says, is that things you share on Google+ itself are now part of the mix.

If anything, the add is yet another piece of the Plus puzzle, which, as one Google spokesperson called it, is an upgrade to your Google experience.

Initiate a Hangout from YouTube

And speaking of Google+, the Hangouts feature just got a boost. Go to YouTube and click on the Share button under any video for an icon that suggests watching the video with friends in a Hangout room:

The feature wasn't formally announced as it's been possible to watch videos with friends on Google+ since the release of the product (through a more complicated manual process). The new button is simply here to make life easier.

Google plans 840-person expansion

Looking for a job? Google has filed plans to add up to 840 workers at an office park north of Seattle — the home turf of Microsoft.

The expansion comes just as the city of Bothel is undertaking a US$ 150 million project to inject some new energy into its downtown area over the next five to 10 years. The goals are to reduce speedy traffic by moving highways and create a more liveable, walkable area.

"Bothell is home to many successful companies, and it's exciting that Google will be joining them," said Mayor Mark Lamb in a statement. "They're coming at a perfect time since Bothell is in the midst of revitalizing it's historic downtown, making it an even better place in which to live and work."